I was checking out "Beck-Ola" and looking through liner notes. The album was not that good; they sound very much like a heavy live band. With no material, as Beck himself has stated. In the notes there is a shot of Ronnie playing Bass. It looks like the Bass I used to have: the very rare Telecaster Bass. Anyone know if it is indeed a Tele Bass he is playing? It is kind of hard to tell exactly.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Is a 'Fender Precision' a Stratocaster-Bass then? Funny how they promote guitars to be Bass-guitars...

2 1 2 0

It is what you think it is, but it is actually called a Precision Bass, the very first solid electric bass. I think Ron's is a white 55...

He also used a Jazz bass as well during that time.



The first album Truth is better.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 15:09 by His Majesty.

Well, the Bass in this shot is obviously a B-Bass. Im talking about Ronnie playingh a white Bass inside the cover-shot. It (the bass) is shaped exactly like a bigger Telecaster. I own one, but to be honest I have never seen another one. Mine is woodcolored, tan.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

The Picture above is a Jazz Bass...but that's another matter.

I don't have access the pictures of this Tele Bass, but the story is quite simple. The Original Precision bass, up to 1955, had an uncontoured Strat like body and a Telecaster shaped headstock. [The P bass actually predated and inspired the Strat body Shape.] After 1955, the Strat repaid the debt. The Strat's body contours and peg head shape were transferred to the revised Precision bass. The new split coil hum cancelling pickup was added and one or two other detail changes made to the control layout etc.

In the late '60s/early 70s [can't recall], either through a perceived demand [or because they had nothing better to do ;^)] Fender reintroduced a varient of the original slab bodied precision with the Tele shape headstock. They fitted a big new humbucking pickup and called it the Telecaster bass.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 15:42 by Spud.

Are people missing the first sentence in my first post???

Th bass Ron is playing in the pic you mention is the same as this:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 15:43 by His Majesty.

>> Are people missing the first sentence in my first post??? <<

this one, you mean?

"It is what you think it is, but it is actually called a Precision Bass, the very first solid electric bass."

i can see it quite clearly. :E
have some popcorn.

That's a VERY nice '55 P Bass . Is it a mint original, or a re-issue ?
Either way, if it's yours, I'm jealous ;^)

with sssoul Wrote:

> this one, you mean?
>
> "It is what you think it is, but it is actually
> called a Precision Bass, the very first solid
> electric bass."
>
> i can see it quite clearly. :E
> have some popcorn.

Yes, the others seem to have completely ignored it.

Spud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's a VERY nice '55 P Bass . Is it a mint
> original, or a re-issue ?
> Either way, if it's yours, I'm jealous ;^)

Just a pic pulled from the internet.

I scanned the Ron cooking with Jeff pic. Is it a 55, or the later version?





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 15:59 by His Majesty.

An american Precision costs around 1000 Euro here, so what is the prize for an Telecaster-BAss. The white one is a beauty...

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His Majesty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> with sssoul Wrote:
>
> > this one, you mean?
> >
> > "It is what you think it is, but it is actually
> > called a Precision Bass, the very first solid
> > electric bass."
> >
> > i can see it quite clearly. :E
> > have some popcorn.
>
> Yes, the others seem to have completely ignored
> it.

Read it, but didn't understand it, since the point of the original post--which is the one I think you were replying to--was that he didn't what to think it was.

ChelseaDrugstore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was checking out "Beck-Ola" and looking through
> liner notes. The album was not that good; they
> sound very much like a heavy live band. With no
> material, as Beck himself has stated. In the notes
> there is a shot of Ronnie playing Bass. It looks
> like the Bass I used to have: the very rare
> Telecaster Bass. Anyone know if it is indeed a
> Tele Bass he is playing? It is kind of hard to
> tell exactly.

Wood played a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass with the Jeff Beck group, not a Precision or Jazz bass. A Telecaster bass basicallly is a "slab" (non contoured) Precision body (thus of the '54/'55 kind), a headstock shaped like the headstock of a Telecaster, and with either a big fat humbucker in the neck position or a single coil in the middle position. They're great basses, big, bold and fat sounding. Dusty Hill of ZZ Top played a Tele bass for years as well. They still can be bought for reasonable money.

In an Guitar Mag interview from a few years ago he stated that when Jeff Beck asked him to switch to bass, he went to Selmers in London and bought a Fender Jaz bass "on loan", that he still has it, and that in fact he never ended up paying for it. Maybe the jazz from the picture is that bass.

Mathijs



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 18:35 by Mathijs.

[www.gbase.com]

[www.gbase.com]

Mathijs

i am fascinated and confused, as usual! didn't Chelsea say the one he has is Tele-shaped?

>> It (the bass) is shaped exactly like a bigger Telecaster. <<

did you mean the body of the bass, Chelsea, or just that it has a Tele-style headstock?
and as long as i'm here, here's a link with some of the specifications and history: [www.provide.net]

Mathijs Wrote:

>
> Wood played a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass with the
> Jeff Beck group, not a Precision or Jazz bass.


Groovy, that explains the extra screws in the pickgaurd etc.

> In an Guitar Mag interview from a few years ago he
> stated that when Jeff Beck asked him to switch to
> bass, he went to Selmers in London and bought a
> Fender Jaz bass "on loan", that he still has it,
> and that in fact he never ended up paying for it.
> Maybe the jazz from the picture is that bass.

He's pictured with the jazzer in 1967, so I guess it's likely.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 19:15 by His Majesty.

I don't have access to the picture referred to in the initial question.
I was trying to AVOID any further confusion by outlining the basic link between the early Tele influenced P bass and the later official Telecaster Bass !

Obviously didn't work. DOHH ! (8^(I)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-13 19:16 by Spud.

Since this discussion seems more lively than the "Fingerprint File" footage thread, it seems worth reposting my opinion here that it's ron's bass playing that sinks the song as a live number in '75. He's all over the frets, almost never hitting the root on the 1, and giving guitarists-who-play-bass a bad name. keith doesn't seem to be giving 100%, and there's a general air of "oh jeez, jagger is gonna play guitar?? let me sit down," but what really keeps the song from hitting a decent groove for 10 minutes is the busy bass. Love the album track... can't remember what exactly mick t plays, maybe something similar but not as extreme, so the song isn't overwhelmed.

Spud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't have access to the picture referred to in
> the initial question.
> I was trying to AVOID any further confusion by
> outlining the basic link between the early Tele
> influenced P bass and the later official
> Telecaster Bass !
>
> Obviously didn't work. DOHH ! (8^(I)

[i51.photobucket.com]

Ron's bass playing on Spanish Boots(especially towards the end) from Beck-ola is ace!

Majesty I did not mean to ignore your first sentence LOL. And the photo you eventually posted seems to bve exactly the Bass he (Ron) is playing. Myu thing is this though: the Bass that I own also has a Tele body. Not just the headstock. Different form the ones pictured. I do not have a photo of my Bass. I just thought that Ron was playingone like I have and I had never seen another one. I wonder if I bought some rarity for 2oodollars years back.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Interesting! It is definitely a Fender?

I always loved Ronnie's bass playing, too. The "Truth" album offers some good examples ("Blues Deluxe", for one).

Ron's bass:

[cgi.ebay.com]

Pitty there is only one picture of the back

__________________________

NICOS Wrote:
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> Pitty there is only one picture of the back

He's put lots of pics up now.

Truth album is simply magnificent...... BUY IT!